Rural healthcare in the spotlight during coalition townhall
Rural healthcare in the spotlight during coalition townhall
Rural southwest Ontario hospitals, particularly those which have borne the brunt of staff shortages and rotating closures, were in the spotlight during a town hall hosted by Ontario Health Coalition.
During the Tuesday town hall, the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) and Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) said provincial moves towards privatization could impact local healthcare services.
"In turn, the smaller hospitals have lost services as governments have forced downsizing,” said Doug Allan with the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC). “Local services have been cut and closed and centralized to other larger hospitals. This is a very significant worry we have about small hospitals that the services will to the extent that they remain will be rationed and moved to larger centres.”
Prior to the town hall meetings, the Ontario Hospital Association said in a media release discussions will surround urgent action to support local public hospitals instead of funneling millions into for-profit corporations to privatize public hospital services.
One local hospital in Seaforth has been seeing its emergency department face numerous closures through the year.
Seaforth nurse Tricia Delange spoke at the meeting and said the hospital only has two registered nurses in the ED at a time.
"Whenever a patient comes into the emergency department who needs a transfer, who's had a heart attack or a stroke, something major, that patient needs to go to a bigger centre that's obviously more specialized to that need," said Delange. "That nurse needs to go with the patient in the ambulance to that bigger centre. That leaves one nurse by themselves in the emergency department where another trauma can very easily and quickly come in.
"We don't have people on call. We go through our list of the ten nurses we have that work there and we can and we beg and we ask."
One member of the health coalition said lost services and staff shortages are two large contributing factors for many hospitals throughout rural areas, with Seaforth being one of the hardest hit.
The Clinton Public Hospital, which is also managed by the HPHA, has seen its own share of temporary closures this year to its emergency department. The hospital faced a prolonged closure starting in 2019 which lasted over a year.
The town hall was the latest in a series shining a spotlight on the issues local hospitals are facing in the province.
The next virtual town hall is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. and will focus on the town of St. Marys, which has also dealt with a number of closures and staffing issues at its hospital.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
Health Canada says it will continue to recommend COVID-19 prevention drug, Evulsheld, despite U.S. FDA pulling back its emergency use authorization due to concerns around its efficacy against Omicron subvariant 'Kraken.'
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double-faults.
With a deal under negotiation between Ottawa and provinces, and premiers invited to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in early February, the issue remains one where the Tory leader's position appears somewhat murky, including to some inside his own party.
A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said.
Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors are providing real-time maintenance advice -- usually speaking through interpreters -- to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
Only a few days after a large winter weather system rolled through southern Ontario, Environment Canada has once again issued a special weather statement for the London region, warning of a snow-rain mix expected to begin Saturday night.
A group of friends from west London, Ont. are giving back to the community one coat, one coffee and one hug at a time. They hit the streets Friday night as part of a yearly initiative to help those living in rough conditions.
While the deadline to file your taxes is months away, there are some personal tax credits Ontarians may qualify for that require some time pilfering through receipts to get them.
Barrie Colts owner Howie Campbell, as well as the captain and alternate captain of the Colts, Brandt Clarke and Jacob Frasca visited the two patients at RVH this week.
The manager of a Tim Hortons in North Bay was wrong to fire a long-term employee because of her physical limitations, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
The body of a 29-year-old Sudbury nurse was recovered Wednesday night from a lake near Parry Sound after her snowmobile went through the ice, police say.
The Parliamentary Protective Service says it expects as many as 500 people to gather on Parliament Hill for an event this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary since the start of the 'Freedom Convoy' protest.
The transformation of a house in downtown Toronto – from a multi-unit with below market rent to a luxury single-family home – is not an anomaly. But rather, housing and legal experts say it is emblematic of why a housing crisis continues to grip the city.
While the deadline to file your taxes is months away, there are some personal tax credits Ontarians may qualify for that require some time pilfering through receipts to get them.
A Laval, Que. man considered one of Canada's most wanted criminals has been arrested in Mexico on allegations of pimping and serious sexual offences. A Canada-wide warrant was for Blake Charbonneau's arrest last year, with a reward of up to $50,000 offered last year for information that could lead to his capture.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six men were killed and five others injured shortly after evening prayer at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Montrealers gathered Friday to commemorate the victims and call for action amid a rise in hate crimes.
The Francois Legault government announced the formation of an interdepartmental 'action group' on the French language to find ways to halt the 'decline' of the language in Quebec.
The Halifax Thunderbirds hosted its annual Every Child Matters night Friday, which included a pre-game ceremony to draw attention to and honour the victims and survivors of Canada’s residential school system.
Record collectors in Newfoundland will have a chance Saturday to paw through selections from the vast vinyl library belonging to 98-year-old radio station VOWR.
Tyler Toffoli and the Calgary Flames rebounded from one of their ugliest losses of the season and picked up an important two points in the Pacific Division before starting the All-Star break.
The self-proclaimed spiritual leader accused of sexually assaulting four of his female followers between 2017 and 2020 made his first court appearance in Edmonton.
New details have emerged in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the City of Leduc as court documents detail allegations that women working as firefighters experienced systemic discrimination and sexual assault.
An Alberta government email review of whether Premier Danielle Smith’s office interfered with Crown prosecutors has taken a confusing turn, with duelling statements from two spokespeople on what was investigated.
The chief of the Williams Lake First Nation says he would support excavating possible unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school if that's what elders and the community decide is best.
In a season marked by loss and frustration, the Russian forward with the dimpled grin, gravity defying hair and enthusiastic goal celebrations has been a rare bright spot both on and off the ice.
